CHAP. 74. THE CYNOSBATOS: THREE REMEDIES.
There is another kind of bramble also,[298] which bears a rose. It produces a round excrescence,[299] similar to a chesnut in appearance, which is remarkably valuable as a remedy for calculus. This is quite a different production from the “cynorrhoda,” which we shall have occasion to speak of in the succeeding Book.[300]
(14.) The cynosbatos[301] is by some called “cynapanxis,”[302] and by others “neurospastos;”[303] the leaf resembles the human footstep in shape. It bears also a black grape, in the berries of which there is a nerve, to which it is indebted for its name of “neurospastos.” It is quite a different plant from the capparis[304] or caper, to which medical men have also given the name of “cynosbatos.” The clusters[305] of it, pickled in vinegar, are eaten as a remedy for diseases of the spleen, and flatulency: and the string found in the berries, chewed with Chian mastich, cleanses the mouth.
The rose[306] of the bramble, mixed with axle-grease, is curative of alopecy: and the bramble-berries themselves, combined with oil of omphacium,[307] stain[308] the hair. The blossom of the bramble is gathered at harvest, and the white blossom, taken in wine, is an excellent remedy for pleurisy and cœliac affections. The root, boiled down to one third, arrests looseness of the bowels and hæmorrhage, and a decoction of it, used as a gargle, is good for the teeth: the juice too is employed as a fomentation for ulcers of the rectum and generative organs. The ashes of the root are curative of relaxations of the uvula.
CHAP. 75.—THE IDÆAN BRAMBLE.
The Idæan bramble[309] is so called from the fact that it is the only plant of the kind found growing upon Mount Ida. It is of a more delicate nature than the others, and smaller; the canes too are thinner, and not[310] so prickly: it mostly grows beneath the shade of trees. The blossom of it, mixed with honey, is applied topically for defluxions of the eyes, and is administered in water for erysipelas and affections of the stomach.[311] In other respects, it has properties similar to those of the plants[312] already mentioned.
CHAP. 76.—THE RHAMNOS; TWO VARIETIES OF IT: FIVE REMEDIES.
Among the several kinds[313] of bramble is reckoned the plant called “rhamnos” by the Greeks. One variety of it is whiter[314] than the other, and has a more shrublike appearance, throwing out branches armed with straight thorns, and not hooked, like those of the other kinds; the leaves too are larger. The other kind,[315] which is found growing wild, is of a more swarthy hue, in some measure inclining to red; it bears too a sort[316] of pod. With the root of it boiled in water a medicament is made, known as “lycium:”[317] the seed of it is useful for bringing away the after-birth. The white kind, however, is of a more astringent and cooling nature, and better adapted for the treatment of gatherings and wounds. The leaves of both kinds, either raw or boiled, are employed topically with oil.